Much work has been done over the years on processes for obtaining liquid and gaseous products from solid carbonaceous materials such as coal. The known processes include both catalytic and non-catalytic reactions. In catalytic processes, the hydrocarbonaceous material is typically slurried with a solvent and a catalyst, and is reacted in the presence of molecular hydrogen at elevated temperatures and pressures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,570, for example, describes a coal liquefaction process in which a mixture of coal, catalyst, and solvent are rapidly heated to a temperature of 600-750° F. in a preheater, and then reacted under coal liquefaction conditions in a liquefaction reaction. U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,556 describes a process for converting a carbonaceous material to normally liquid products comprising heating a slurry that comprises a carbonaceous material, a hydrocarbonaceous solvent, and a catalyst precursor to a temperature sufficient to convert the catalyst precursor to the corresponding catalyst, and introducing the slurry into a liquefaction zone. U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,065 describes a coal liquefaction process comprising impregnating coal particles with a catalyst having hydrogenation or hydrogenolysis activity; introducing the impregnated coal particles for very short periods into a turbulent flow of hydrogen-containing gas at a temperature at least about 400° C.; and quenching the temperature of the products to a temperature significantly less than 400° C.
Such conventional processes leave much room for improving the liquid and/or gas yields of hydroconverted carbonaceous materials, as well as the quality of the liquid and/or gas products that are obtained from such processes. Accordingly, a need remains for improved systems and methods for hydroconversion of carbonaceous materials, as well as improved feed materials for such systems and methods.